Thursday, February 10, 2011

I've been told I need to blog more often but I guess I've been waiting for the right moment. Last Saturday my work had it's big end of the year Gala and the theme this year was Casino Night. They rented out the banquet room at a hotel and had an open bar for a bit and a nice dinner, guest speakers, dessert, card tables, etc. After dinner, we walked around for a bit and mingled and watched others playing blackjack. They gave everyone pretend money to cash out for chips if you chose to play. They had a raffle where you could redeem your chips for tickets and try your luck. Each ticket was worth $250 so you can play for more chips and more tickets and better your odds. We watched a blackjack table for a while and decided to play for a bit. It was pretend money, so why not? I played for a while and Becky watched. I kept urging her to join in since there was an open spot on the table next to me and she finally decided to go for it. Silly me for thinking that my offer of a couple of $5 chips were enough to get her started. Nope, she snagged the other $500 bill in my shirt pocket and cashed it out for herself. So there she is jumping into the game and she was on fire right away. Call it beginner's luck if you want but she had the hot hand. When the night was over, she ended up nearly doubling her hand with over $900. We combined for about $1700 total and got 6 raffle tickets for it. The grand prize was a trip for 2 to Vegas, there were a couple iPads, and various gift card prizes. We ended up scoring a $100 gift card to Nordstrom. Not bad but I think it will only buy you a left shoe at that store. Not exactly the type of place you would find us at normally but free money is a nice temptation to get you to go places you normally wouldn't go. We had a good time but there was something that really made the night fun.

To go along with the Vegas/casino theme, they hired an Elvis impersonator. He came out in his powder blue jumpsuit hair and all and of course, sang a couple songs. As you watch the video below, you'll see that we sat to the right of him. That was a bad move. If you've ever seen Elvis perform you'll know that his right leg is his power leg and it's usually out forward more than his left leg. That's where the problem came in. His jumpsuit was spandex or some similar material and, well, spandex is just never flattering. Had I zoomed in at all, I would have been forced to apply an "Under 18 Not Admitted" warning label on this blog.

At first I figured that this was just a job or maybe a hobby, but this is him. We were walking through the lobby as we were on our way out and he was coming out of a dressing room. He was carrying his suit in a suit bag and he was mumbling to himself. As we walked past him he was still talking in his Elvis voice. On stage is one thing but walking through a lobby of a hotel? Really? Maybe they hired him for a few hours and he was still on the clock? I don't know. But regardless, he was a complete fruitcake to me. Judge for yourself...